Eric Matthews was born in Liverpool in 1936. He studied philosophy, both as an undergraduate and a postgraduate, at St John's College, Oxford, from 1957 to 1963, where he was taught by Paul Grice, Gilbert Ryle, and A.J. Ayer. He then taught philosophy for almost forty years at the University of Aberdeen, apart from visiting posts at the University of New Orleans and at the College of Wooster, Ohio, U.S.A. He has a longstanding interest in the philosophical and ethical problems arising from psychiatry: he is a member of the National Committee of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Philosophy Special Interest Group and was a member of the Steering Committee of the International Network for Philosophy and Psychiatry. In 2002, he retired from a Personal Chair of Philosophy at Aberdeen, and is now Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Honorary Research Professor of Medical and Psychiatric Ethics at the University.

• 1. Introducing the problem ; 2. Illness and disease ; 3. 'Minds' and 'bodies' ; 4. Phenomenology and Merleau-Ponty ; 5. The body-subject and mental disorder ; 6. Mental disorder and choice ; 7. Mental disorder and legal resposibility ; 8. Treatment without consent

Eric Matthews was born in Liverpool in 1936. He studied philosophy, both as an undergraduate and a postgraduate, at St John's College, Oxford, from 1957 to 1963, where he was taught by Paul Grice, Gilbert Ryle, and A.J. Ayer. He then taught philosophy for almost forty years at the University of Aberdeen, apart from visiting posts at the University of New Orleans and at the College of Wooster, Ohio, U.S.A. He has a longstanding interest in the philosophical and ethical problems arising from psychiatry: he is a member of the National Committee of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Philosophy Special Interest Group and was a member of the Steering Committee of the International Network for Philosophy and Psychiatry. In 2002, he retired from a Personal Chair of Philosophy at Aberdeen, and is now Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Honorary Research Professor of Medical and Psychiatric Ethics at the University.

• 1. Introducing the problem ; 2. Illness and disease ; 3. 'Minds' and 'bodies' ; 4. Phenomenology and Merleau-Ponty ; 5. The body-subject and mental disorder ; 6. Mental disorder and choice ; 7. Mental disorder and legal resposibility ; 8. Treatment without consent

Eric Matthews was born in Liverpool in 1936. He studied philosophy, both as an undergraduate and a postgraduate, at St John's College, Oxford, from 1957 to 1963, where he was taught by Paul Grice, Gilbert Ryle, and A.J. Ayer. He then taught philosophy for almost forty years at the University of Aberdeen, apart from visiting posts at the University of New Orleans and at the College of Wooster, Ohio, U.S.A. He has a longstanding interest in the philosophical and ethical problems arising from psychiatry: he is a member of the National Committee of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Philosophy Special Interest Group and was a member of the Steering Committee of the International Network for Philosophy and Psychiatry. In 2002, he retired from a Personal Chair of Philosophy at Aberdeen, and is now Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Honorary Research Professor of Medical and Psychiatric Ethics at the University.

• 1. Introducing the problem ; 2. Illness and disease ; 3. 'Minds' and 'bodies' ; 4. Phenomenology and Merleau-Ponty ; 5. The body-subject and mental disorder ; 6. Mental disorder and choice ; 7. Mental disorder and legal resposibility ; 8. Treatment without consent